http://bombsite.com/issues/105/articles/3178
I spend a fair amount of time in the queer and S&M worlds. A lot of the organizations in those worlds are starting to see their memberships decline. You think about New York City as a kind of sexual terrain; it used to be that there were at least six leather bars here, and any number of straight sex clubs, but now there's only one of each. People talk about the ease with which someone can find their fetish connections online. It's the same situation with younger artists.....
...being an artist has become just another job. There are so many professional programs and schools for people to be trained in all aspects of the field.
NB The difference is in the level of commitment, and also in the possibility of serendipity. On the libidinal end if you wanted to explore a less mainstream sexuality, you had to make a commitment to be in a physical space with other like-minded people. You were also likely to encounter an activity that you had never considered before, that you yourself hadn't necessarily searched for. When you look at a show online, you're only seeing what someone else decided is worth looking at. The opportunity for you to discover your own thing in the gallery next door or in the show itself, that thing that didn't get reproduced, is severely curtailed.